Purchasing a Mobile Home: the Pros and Cons

If you're tired of living in a cramped apartment, paying rent on something that you'll never own, but don't have enough money to invest in a house, buying a mobile home may be a good option for you.

But before you commit to buying one, you should know what goes into procuring a mobile home.

Like a used car, a pre-owned mobile home depreciates in value. Treat researching mobile homes, or manufactured home as they are also called, like you would buying a pre-owned car. When in the market to buy a mobile home, you must have a careful, critical eye and common sense. Much like searching for a quality pre-owned car, you must use that same type of detective work to find a quality mobile home. The older the structure is, the more difficult it may be to find financing or the more money that may have to go in to it to fix it.

Look at more than one and see if each home and its location will fit your needs. You must decide whether to live in a rental community (where you own the home but not the land) or resident-owned community (where you own the land your home is on). Ask residents of a particular rental community what it is like to live there and how often the rent increases.

You must also consider that, although a mobile home offers more space than an apartment, it could still mean living in cramped quarters. Mobile homes offer the privacy that a homeowner enjoys, but not the abundance of space. Mobile homes make great starter homes and provide the knowledge of what it takes to buy a stick-built house, but they are in no way practical in housing a family consisting of more than four members.

Most manufactured home come already furnished, so it is especially helpful for someone just starting out in life. When you find a home you like, have a home inspector, one who is familiar with mobile homes, examine your home. This will give you a better idea on the condition of the home, whether you should make the investment.